The Britannia Hotel in Belsize Park was booked by the council for rough sleeper accommodation

THE government’s “everybody in” policy of making sure rough sleepers had accommodation during the coronavirus crisis has been changed with fewer people now eligible.

Council chiefs warned they needed more support from Whitehall, with a bookings deal at the Britannia Hotel in Belsize Park almost over.

The New Journal was told some had been asked to leave the hotel this week and a council report said it was only available to the end of January ­– but a press official said that it would now be extended through February.

The project has been hailed as a success because it gave support workers a direct opportunity to help those who took up rooms.

Nearly everybody was said, by the council, to have been moved onto somewhere more permanent. But cabinet councillor Nadia Shah said this would not be the end of the problem because more people were coming onto Camden’s streets each week.

She said: “I’ve had questions coming: people mentioning ‘everyone in’. It’s been clarified that it’s not the same ‘everyone in’ as it was during the first lockdown. It’s only towards a targeted group of people.

But in Camden, we’re seeing about 10 new rough sleepers a week, so we’re likely to have people in emergency accommodation. “We were spending £60,000 a month on rough sleeping accommodation and we will need to continue this beyond March – this is when the stripped back funding has been provided by the government for.”

Cllr Shah said: “I’m going to make a big song and dance about the Britannia. However, we are in a position where we might not be able to continue that work.”

Jodi Pilling, head of the council’s Safer Camden Network, said that 25 people who had been seen during the pandemic now fit into the new eligibility for the government’s “everyone in” pledge.

She told a council meeting it had been narrowed to those who were “clinically vulnerable to Covid” ­and “people who have been long-term rough sleeping”.